CSL 2010 Quarterfinals

[Rocket Robin 2]

Result of the Tuesday October 12, 2010 CSL game between Toronto Croatia and York Region Shooters played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 8:00pm. This was the first game of a two game Quarterfinal.

63 min...Toronto Croatia Ivan Zgela GOAL...TC Hayden Fitzwilliams steals ball from YRS defender Chris Turner and rushes in from 40 yards, cuts in from right and pushes pass back to 20 yards for Zgela to blast from left to center of net that goalie Camilo Benzi gets a piece of but pushes into left side of net.

88 min...Toronto Croatia Tihomir Maletic GOAL...Maletic cuts in on right from 25 yards and kicks 18 yarder up middle into right corner of net.

97 min...game ends.

Final Score:.....Toronto Croatia.........2........York Region Shooters..........0......

Attendance was about 120 on this cold night.

Since this is a two game series, Croatia's second goal was vitally important and could change any strategy that Shooters were planning on for a second game. Maletic was the leading scorer of the CSL for during the regular season with 17 goals.

Croatia was the final qualifier for the playoffs this year and scraped in last week with a tie against Brampton Lions which eliminated that team. Their record since their last win, a 3-0 victory on September 22nd against St Catharines Wolves, was 0-2-2 plus a 2-0 'forfeit' loss of a game never played against London City that reduced their crowded fixture schedule. Before that win against Wolves they had been 0-2-3 stretching back into August.

Shooters finished first during the regular season but are in deep trouble and will have the most difficult time to advance of the three games held last night..

Antonio Ilic earner the shutout for Croatia. He is usually the back up but I heard before the game that first stringer Sandi Matika was still injured.

Best scoring chances besides the goals were at 30 minutes when Ivan Zgela took a 25 yard freekick from the left (he took most of the freekicks and cornerkicks tonight) and Hayeden Fitzwilliams charge in and headed the ball high and wide left of the goal. At 37 minutes YRS Jason DeThomasis surprised all the TC players by taking a 35 yard freekick from the left that hit the left post with all the players of both teams except the TC goalie standing at 15 yards on the right side expecting a cross. DeThomasis took a 30 yard freekick from the left at 54 minutes and a YRS player headed the ball wide left from 10 yards. At 75 minutes, TC Tihomir Maletic got the ball in the open and took a 15 yard low shot that was just wide left of the post. Maybe that was just warming him up for his chance 11 minutes later.

Referee David Barrie was given a hard time by the pro-Croatia fans for not awarding a Penalty kick when Ivan Zgela was clipped just inside the Shooters box at 12 minutes but he didn't call equally dubious 'knocks' for the Shooters too. He gave out three Yellow cards to Croatia during the rather generous seven minutes of added time in the second half on meaningless tackles and time wasting the players shouldn't have made. The only person the fans gave a worse time to was Shooters goalie Carmilo Benzi save rather dangerously off his chest rather than make a routine catch somewhat showing up the Croatian team. I didn't agree with the fans wanting the game to end (except for the cold weather) because all the momentum was going TC's way and they had a much more likely chance of scoring another one.

Tonight Centennial Stadium will be used as the 'home' field for TFC Academy against Hamilton Croatia. The game will be held at the rather late hour of 9:00pm. I expect that hour will make it convenient for travelling Hamilton fans to show up in force. Etobicoke is on the western edge of Toronto near the Pearson airport and is well served by expressways almost directly to Hamilton. There will probably be a larger cheering section for Hamilton than TFC who have some supporters who never venture out of downtown Toronto.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[Rocket Robin 2]

Result of the Wednesday October 13th, 2010 CSL game between TFC Academy and Hamilton Croatia played at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke at 9:00pm. This was the first game of their two game-total goal Quarterfinal playoff series.

32 min...Hamilton Croatia Preston Corporal GOAL...HC Daniel Niksic at 60 yards feeds Corporal a breakaway pass from 40 yards and he rushes down the middle and takes 20 yard shot into the low left side of the net beyond diving goalie Angelo Cavalluzzo at 10 yards.

51 min...TFCA Ashtone Morgan GOAL...Morgan snakes a 45 yard blast from the left sideline that goalie Melford James gets a hand to but ball flies into the top right corner of net.

76 min...TFCA Oscar Cordon is tripped by HC Jamie Dodds just inside HC box on rush on left. Referee Justin Tasev gives Dodds a Yellow card and awards TFCA a Penalty kick.

78 min...TFCA Keith Makubuya blasts Penalty kick low down middle and sprawling goalie Melford James deflects ball over net for cornerkick.

84 min...Hamilton Croatia Ivan Razumovic GOAL...HC Aidan O'Keefe 35 yard freekick from right has Razumovic on left behind defenders head 6 yarder just under bar into center of net.

Final Score:.......TFC Academy...........1..............Hamilton Croatia..................2............

Attendance was about 300 people with about 100 hardcore TFC supporters and 100 hardcore Hamilton Croatia supporters and about 100 people sitting between them. Fireworks and flares were lit at various times during the game. No children in attendance for this late start. It had rained just before the game, started to rain again at 63 minutes then stop and rain very hard after the game was over. The game was started so late because there was already a game in progress between Centennial College and George Brown College.

Other misses and great saves included at 20 minutes when HC goalie dived out to poke a ball away from the charging TFCA Tristan Jackman wide right of the net and Jackman flipped over him but no Penalty kick was given. At 35 minutes TFCA Jonathan Lao fed the ball down the middle from 50 yards and TFCA Ashtone Morgan in the clear shot and his 18 yarder was just wide right of the post. At 53 minutes HC Aidan O'Keefe took a cornerkick from the right and two HC players missed connecting at 10 yards , one by a header and the other on a kick, and the ball bounced wide left through the box. At 66 minutes, O'Keefe kicked an 8 yarder wide left with the empty net after HC Danny Jirta chipped a 15 yarder over the goalie and had the ball deflect back out off the bar. At 89 minutes HC Jamie Dodds chipped the goalie and hit the underside of the bar and the goalie grabbed the ball when it dropped on the line or the series would just about have ended right there.

Worrying to Hamilton Croatia was the injury to star forward Preston Corporal starting at 55 minutes with a leg injury but returning to the game five minutes later but then reinjured as he stretched to make a check at 68 minutes. 'Showtime' did finish the game but appeared to be limping at other times late in the game.

There was no crowd trouble and no flares were thrown onto the field. After the game I heard a TFC fan ask the Hamilton group where they bought their flares.

In the pressbox was MLS Toronto FC interim manager Nick Dasovic and executive Danny Dichio. Dasovic says he was watching the game to decide on giving some more Academy players a chance to play in the remaining TFC games later this week against Columbus Crew and Arabe Unido now that they can't make the MLS playoffs nor the next round of the CONCACAF Championships. The co-host of the This Week in the CSL show said the two players Dasovic has in mind are forwards Keith Makubuya and Tristan Jackman. Tonight's game had defender Doneil Henry as a starter. He was the first player ever called up from the Academy from Toronto FC but has not been used in the last few weeks with the big club.

The second leg of this series is now scheduled for a 7:00pm start on Sunday at Brian Timmis Stadium in Hamilton. Rogers Community channel supposedly continues to fume that there is no game scheduled for Friday night.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[Rocket Robin 2]

Result of the Saturday October 16th, 2010 CSL game between Portugal FC and Milltown FC played at Lamport Stadium in Toronto at 6:00pm.

(I missed the first ten minutes of the game walking over from BMO Field after the Toronto FC vs Columbus Crew MLS game).

37 min...Milltown Martin Artale GOAL...MFC Lesley St Fleur takes long throw-in from right end line has MFC Thierry Mangwa-Batoman head ball across box and Artale head ball in from 6 yards on left beyond goalie Michael Silva.

70 min...Portugal Andrea Lombardo GOAL...Lombardo blasts 22 yarder himself from left into left side of net with a man open on the right as a decoy.

74 min...Milltown Martin Artale GOAL...Artale blasts 15 yard shot from right to left side of net.

85 min...MFC Thierry Mangwa-Batoman is called for hand ball in MFC box after the MFC goalie cleared a ball off his defender's face injuring him and the ball stayed in the box. A Portugal players flick kick back from 20 yards hits Mangwa-Batoman. Referee Matt Arduini calls a Penalty kick.

86 min...Portugal Marko Bedenikovic GOAL...Bedenikovic blasts Penalty kick into left side of net past goalie Scott Cliff.

87 min...A pushing match breaks out on the edge of the PFC box. MFC Thierry Mangwa-Batoman earns a Yellow card for his part in the melee.

89 min...MFC RED card...Thierry Mangwa-Batoman earns his second Yellow within two minutes for another pushing incident.

.............MFC Yellow card...Goalie Scott Cliff earns it for his part in the incident.

.............PFC Yellow card...Andrea Lombardo earns it for his part in the incident.

97 min...game ends.

..........MFC RED card...Agustin DeMedina earns this for an after game pushing match that this time not only involved players but also subbed players and officials on the bench. I didn't see any spectators involved although some were crowding to the front row of the stands.

Final Score:.......Portugal FC............2............Milltown FC...............2...............

This was the return game of the Quarter Final series between the two teams. As Portugal FC had won the first game of the series 1-0 on Tuesday night in Milton so Milton had to win tonight. If they had won by two goals, they would have won outright but a win by one goal would have meant overtime right after this game.

Attendance was about 120 on this cool evening. More than half came over after the TFC game and most sat in the Milltown fan section because Milltown FC owner Dino Rossi Jr is a frequent poster to the message boards. Another group of about 40 stood outside peering through the iron grates in the fence at each end. Admission to this game was about the price of a beer at BMO Field but maybe these fans are used to watching from the end zones.

Andrea Lombardo scored his goal and came running over to the stands with his hands cupping his ears to hear the 'cheers' of the fans. This drove the hecklers wild but was soon forgotten when Milltown scored a goal in response. He played for Toronto FC in the first one and a half years (2007-2008) of the franchise.

Other scoring chances were at 18 minutes when PFC Jarek Whiteman took a backwards header on jump at 5 yards just over MFC net. At 42 minutes MFC Agustin DeMedina on breakaway chipped the goalie and his 20 yard shot was just over the net. At 54 minutes PFC Marko Bedenikovic took a 28 yard freekick from the right that had PFC Andrea Lombardo knock ball down and head ball over net from 5 yards. Two minutes later PFC Joseph Del Priore got a centering pass and his 25 yard blast hit the top of the bar. Two minutes later PFC Lombardo kicked a 10 yard shot from the right wide left of the post when given a short pass. At 62 minutes MFC Lesley St Fleur kicked a ball wide right from 20 yards when the PFC goalie was late in charging out to the edge of the box. At 82 minutes the MFC goalie dove on the ball at 6 yards to stop PFC Dominic Oppong tapping ball over from the left end line to players in the box.

[i don't regret not getting here sooner. The Columbus goalie William Hesmer scored the tieing goal in injury time in one of those plays that you only see on highlight packages. He scored after a corner kick where he crowded into the TFC box and blocked a partial clearance. He scored the goal on Milos Kocic who was a substitute for starter Jon Conway who was Red carded for a fight in the second half. Regular keeper Stefan Frei may start next week for TFC''s final game of the season against DC United but will need Milos Kocic as at least a substitute. Kocic is on loan from TFC but plays goal for Serbian White Eagles who if they advance in their CSL quarter-final tomorrow will play their semi-final next weekend where the place and times of the game has not yet been announced.]

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[VPjr]

A big thank you to everyone who came out to support the team last night. A big thank you to the members of the V's, U-Sector and RPB who walked straight over from the TFC game to support Milltown and to lend their voices to the cause. To a man, the players all loved it and wish you would all come out to lots of games next season. We also want to thank the folks from Milton who came out to support us, as they have all season. We missed our super fan #1 (RH, you know who you are) but I'm sure he was wishing he could be there.

It was an exciting match, filled with excellent chances for both clubs. Portugal FC is a good team and will give problems to whomever they face in the semi-finals.

Our squad played their heart out. We put it all on the line, played a 3-4-3 because we knew we had to get goals, and we did all we could, especially with a depleted lineup. Our usual #10, Martijn Kuijpers was out of the game with a torn ankle ligament thanks to a slide tackle from behind the previous week.

We got excellent performances from a bunch of players, especially Eric Batchanou and Brian Alcantara, who both gave their best performances when it counted most. Alcantara rattled a shot off the cross bar from about 28 yards out midway thrrough the 2nd half, which would have been huge for us

Martin Artale was outstanding. His 2nd goal of the night was one of our best goals of the year. He played with enormous emotion all night and didn't give an inch.

We really missed Kuijpers but his replacement, 16 year old Sanjar Kairosh did a really good job in his place. He was up against a group of fast, physical and experienced players and played with courage and skill. He's going to be someone to watch.

Scott Cliff did a great job, as usual.

All in all, the whole team did all they could but fell just short of taking this game to extra time. We were undone by a subpar performance at home on Tuesday night, when we fell 1-0.

It's been an exciting season.

Best of luck to everyone else left in the playoffs.

[BugerKing]

^ Just out of interest, will Milltown Fc continue to train over the winter months?

[soccerguy]

Hamilton Croatia advances with a 1-0 over TFC tonight in Hamilton.

[soccerguy]

Brantford beat Serbian White Eagles 1-0 in extra time. So semi finals are set:

#3 Hamilton Croatia hosts #8 Toronto Croatia and

#5 Portugal hosts #7 Brantford Galaxy.

Should be entertaining. I went 3 for 4 calling quaterfinals missed on Toronto Croatia vs Shooters.

Could we have a final involving 2 expansion teams?

[hamiltonfan]

Congrats to Brantford, this will be the first time in SWE club history that they will not make the CSL final. I predicted a Hamilton vs Brantford final. Both sides a mix of aged professionals and younger players.

[VPjr]

Burger King...we definitely intend to train indoors over the winter. We'll give the guys a few weeks off and start back up in about 3 weeks

Congratulations to all 4 teams who have advanced to the semi-finals. I fully expect a very exciting semi final and final round. All 8 teams that made the playoffs this year were closely matched and very competitive, which made for a very hard fought 1/4 final round.

[Rocket Robin 2]

Result of the Sunday October 17th, 2010 CSL game between Serbian White Eagles and Brantford Galaxy played at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York at 8:00pm. This was the return leg of the two game Quarter Final series. The first game in Brantford ended in a 0-0 tie on Tuesday October 12th.

End of 90 minutes of regulation time.

Serbian White Eagles........0..........Brantford Galaxy........0........

1st Half Extra Time (15 minutes)

100 min...Galaxy Zvonko Bakula GOAL...BG Nenad Begovic 35 yard freekick from right has BG Ranko Golijanin head ball at 5 yards in middle of box and hit left goal post. Ball bounces down and Bakula on the left kicks a 5 yard shot into the right side of the net with fallen goalie Milos Kocic caught on the left post.

2nd Half Extra Time (15 minutes)

no scoring

Penalty shootout--not required.

Final Score:......Serbian White Eagles........0............Brantford Galaxy..........1........

Brantford Galaxy win series 4 points to 1.

Attendance was about 300 people on this extremely cold night. This is usually the home stadium of the North York Astros but renting stadiums at this time of year in Toronto on short notice are not always available. Fan support was mostly for the White Eagles but the Galaxy had a good deal of very vocal support as well.

Referee Manuel Orellano officiated the game and I didn't count one card given out. Neither team had more than a handful of offside calls against them the whole game.

Both teams held back on making any subs until 12 minutes from regulation when White Eagles made two subs within five minutes. Alex Braletic was subbed out at 78 minutes by Shawn Brown. Braletic usually doesn't play for more than the first hour of games during the regular season. Sasa Viciknez replacing Uros Stamatovic was their next sub. Galaxy waited until the 102 minute mark before making a sub.

One play at 84 minutes would have changed the result. SWE Sasa Viciknez took the ball from a fallen BG Nyema Patric Gerhardt and passes to right for SWE Kirie Dimitrov and his 25 yard blast hit the bar and rebounded to SWE Ramon Bailey whose 25 yard shot was caught by the goalie.

Ante Domjanovic earned the shutout for the Galaxy. He had to be sharp to keep the game scoreless during regulation time. For Milos Kocic of the White Eagles it was like deja-vu with close in action with opposition players crowding in the

box on a set piece. This happened when he came in as a sub in the Toronto FC game and the Columbus Crew goalie ended up scoring from close range with Kocic down in the box.

Results of all the Quarter Finals series of the Top 8 teams have left the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 8th ranked teams advancing. Hamilton Croatia and Portugal FC will host the one game semi-final games against Toronto Croatia and Brantford Galaxy respectfully. It is expected the Portugal FC game will be played on Friday night so it can be broadcast live on Rogers Community channel in Toronto.

Rocket Robin

robing@eol.ca

[Guest rinis]

Hi VPjr,

What action will your professionally-atmosphered club be taking against Agustin for his cowardly sucker-punch attempt long after the whistle?

[Califax]

Hi VPjr,

What action will your professionally-atmosphered club be taking against Agustin for his cowardly sucker-punch attempt long after the whistle?

That's a hell of a first post rinis,

What tabloid are you with again? First, Anyone who was there can attest to the rather explosive nature of the game, and that there were way worse offenses that went uncalled or unacknowledged. The official did not do a good job with the game and that's what happens. Secondly, if you are asking a respected member of our group and the Canadian soccer community in general a question, your first question mind you, it would best done without editorializing with the word "cowardly". As if it matters if a punch is cowardly in soccer. Would it have been better had he told him he was going to punch him first? What if he done it on the field, long before the whistle. Would that appease you?

There's gotta be a hockey game going on somewhere that you can watch...

[JamboAl]

Agustin was shown a red card for what he's done; I assume that comes with some sort of automatic suspension attached which should apply for the start of next season. If the league office decides to do more, then that'll be made public at some point.

rinis: what do you expect Milltown to do? what would you like them to do?

[Ossington63]

Califax,

I'm not sure I can agree with you.

The Milltown player ran 10 or 15 metres to get at Lombardo.

Yes Lombardo can be a jerk, but that is no excuse.

This happened right in front of me.

Having said that Milltown FC is a model team that others should emulate.

Great away support.

[Califax]

I'm not gonna get into a whole thing about it, and there is never an excuse to punch anyone or attempt to punch anyone before, during or after a match, but I'm not sure what part you don't agree with... everything you said I agree with.

A player tried to climb into the stands to take a swing at a fan. In my mind that is worse. A fan, appeared to be pulled over the railing by a player (from my angle) , in my mind that is also worse.

I took issue with some first time poster coming onto a forum that he has never posted on, and asking in a mocking and tongue and cheek tone, if something will be done about a situation, that he/she will have forgotten about moments from now, let alone long after Agustin DiMedina is disciplined.

[Eric]

I was at the game the other night and I can assure you that the players from Portugal FC are amongst the most dirties players in the league and the Milltown FC players are some of the most naive in the league too.

What De Medina did was just try to defend some of his family members on the stands, specially the ones that have been attacked by the PFC players, but he's actions were very naive, based purely on frustration.

The referee ruin the game, as a matter of fact he was the main deciding force on the outcome of the game, the PK against Jesse Mahal should had never been called because it was clearly ball to hand and not the other way around, he had no time whatsoever to pull out his arm from the shot.

The league needs to look into these detail and just use the top referees on these important games.

[Eric]

Hi VPjr,

What action will your professionally-atmosphered club be taking against Agustin for his cowardly sucker-punch attempt long after the whistle?

Hi rinis, what action would your none professional-atmosphere club be taking against that instigating clown Lombardo? or the coward who punch the lady in the stands?

[jpg75]

Didn't Portugal FC get into a brawl with TFC Academy 2 years ago?

[Guest rinis]

Califax, if you agree, as you last stated, that De Agustin should be punished by the club then we are in complete agreement.

Eric:

To be clear, De Agustin completely initiated the fight with a sucker punch. He was not defending his family that much can be confirmed by anyone at the game including any Milltown player who is honest.

Lombardo will be disciplined by having to play midfield instead of striker tonight in the CSL Semis!

[Eric]

Eric:

Lombardo will be disciplined by having to play midfield instead of striker tonight in the CSL Semis!

Is this a joke?

[barca fc]

Califax, unforetunately I am a first time user as well and will try to ask my question in a more educated manner than the other user.

I was at the game as well and it is disturbing to see the way #7 acted. It is truly wrong to see a player run after someone after the whislte has blown and attack him from the back. Even more disturbing was the manner which #2 conducted himself. He needs to receive a major suspension and nothing shorter than a seaon will justify this. He was already red carded for his involvement in a scuffle and left the game. However, he found himself acting like "Superman" and ran from the change room on to the field. The scuffle really escalated when he ran on to the field.

This obvioulsy needs to be handled by the league but moreover, I think MFC as a respected organization need to act and suspend #2. Running on to the field after u have been red carded is one of the worst offences possible. I understand reasoning behind #7 and his attack. It was wrong but he was full of emotions. However, #2 was already gone and should have controlled himself.

He also ran by the coaching staff on his way to the scuffle and no one bothered to stop him.

I am not sure if I am looking into this at a different angle but clubs needs to put their foot down and not tolerate this kind of behaviour. Athletes needs to control their emotions if this league is going to ever be considered "professional".

[barca fc]

Is there anyone on this forum from MFC who can comment if they will be penalizing any of their players and has the league done anything yet?

What do you think will be a valid punishment? Should the club be fined?

[Eric]

Is there anyone on this forum from MFC who can comment if they will be penalizing any of their players and has the league done anything yet?

What do you think will be a valid punishment? Should the club be fined?

barca fc, I think #2 should be shot dead and #7 sent to the electric chair LOL(sarcasm)....I think that if you read your post before posting it, you'll realize how ridiculous what you just post it is.

I was there too, just like I was at an other quarter final game the following day. It's funny that you're talking about what almost happen to Lombardo but you're not talking about what Lombardo did to provoke all of what happen at Lamport that night and the fact that he injured MFC best player the week before and left him out of the playoff.

The players from PFC were dirty and their unsportsmanlike behavior should be punished by their own club and the league too IMO. They insulted the paying public and even punch a woman in the stands! yes one of the players PUNCH A WOMAN in the face. I just hope that there is some video of that incident some where and that player gets spelled from the league altogether.

PFC is known for these type of incidents in the past and yet they still participate in the league no questions asked.

IMO the biggest problem in this particular game was the referee, a young guy with no experience or personality at all to handle a playoff game, the players from PFC harassed him all game and he gave them a PK in the last 5 minutes to shut them off and get them through the quarters, otherwise I think he knew that he was going to be the one punched in the face.

[soccerguy]

One finalist is set as Brantford defeated Portugal tonight 5-3.

Toronto Croatia at Hamilton Croatia on Sunday night at 7pm at Brian Timmis Stadium in Hamilton to decide the other half.

[barca fc]

Eric, there is no need to get rude and make comments like you do.

I was making simple observations and perhaps you should take your own advice and read your posts as well before posting them.

To counter your arguement, I beleive #2 and #7 should become leaders of our army and perhaps rub off this kind of bravery attitude on the rest of the soldiers.(sarcasm as well)

You are trying to suggest that Lombarodo's celebration deserved this kind of action. If you watch soccer on television then you will see that players act on emtions and they often have controversial celebrations as well. However, I have never seen them attacked after the game.

You are completely blaming PFC and the referee for everything. Perhpas MFC had some worng doings as well. for instance, why did #2 get red carded? I seem to recall it was for his scuffle with PFC players. but let me guess, it was PFC fault and the ref made a mistake.

PFC needs to penalize any players who may have attacked the fans. This kind of player can not be tolerated as well.

At last, I beleive this PFC has only three players on thier roster that used to play here before.

As an observer, I want the league to improve and become more professional.

I agree that PFC had some fault as well but can you admit that MFC did somethings unprofessionally as well.

Good luck to Brantford and Hamilton in the finals.